In 1 Samuel 7:12, it says, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, 'Thus far the LORD has helped us.'”
In Joshua 4:1-9, Joshua instructs one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to set up a stone in the middle of the Jordan River as a memorial to the children of Israel that the Lord had brought them into the promise land.
In both instances the Israelites set up memorial stones in order to remember the Lord’s help, the Lord’s blessings, and the Lord’s faithfulness after a time of trial and hardship. They also set up these memorial stones so that they could teach their children about all that the Lord had done for them. Whenever I think about a memorial stone, the words of the hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing play through my mind. Particularly verse 2, and the words: "Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come" which is the inspiration behind this little post (and the encouragement and example of a friend).
If you remember from this post I've been thinking about how I can remember my time of working once it's over. I know that once I'm knee deep in laundry, crying toddlers and dirty dishes I'll sound just like the Israelites after God miraculously delivered them from slavery (see Exodus 16) when all they can do is complain about missing the food in Egypt. Time and time again we see it in the Bible, and in human nature - the grass is always greener, how soon we forget where we came from and how we got where we are today.
I want to remember that we endured this time because God sustained us and blessed us. It was rough, but didn't overtake us. And now, we've made it through!
In an effort to put something tangible behind the memory, I stopped on my way home from my last day of work in Pendleton and picked out a few stones. I'm kind of combining the two concepts of an Ebenezer and memorial stones. I knew that if I picked up a small stone, more appropriate for an Ebenezer, it would get lost in the shuffle over time. I thought long and hard about a creative way to display a stone over time that will still serve the purpose of bringing to mind all that the Lord has done for me and reminding me of the journey that it took to be a stay at home mom (someday). Ultimately, I picked out three stones that I could put in a conspicuous place, like in a garden, flowerbed or bookshelf.
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| Where my stones came from. |
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| Where they are now. |
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| The lighter/smaller stone has the Hebrew for Ebenezer written on it. |
Love Ebenezers. I like how you wrote in Hebrew on the smaller one. I think these will help you remember - I know mine does.
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